RANGELEY — Mountain music is coming back to the mountain, and dancing is encouraged.

After only one year, word has spread across the country about the Saddleback Mountain Bluegrass Festival. This year, the event, on Friday and Saturday, Aug. 12-13, boasts a lineup of performers at the top of the industry such as Ricky Skaggs, plus fast-rising musicians the likes of Crooked Still.

Long known for its beautiful scenery and optimum skiing, Saddleback Mountain ventured into the music world last year with its first bluegrass festival, which featured superstars The Del McCoury Band and David Grisman.

Bluegrass musicians who play the banjo, fiddle, mandolin, guitar and upright bass show incredible dexterity and stamina. Originating from the Appalachian Mountain people in the early part of the 20th century, bluegrass incorporates instrumental elements of jazz, Celtic jigs and reels, as well as tight vocal harmonies.

At the end of last year’s show, festival manager Mark Robie took the microphone and asked members of the crowd if they wanted to do it again.

“It was such a loud yes, and it was so much fun there really wasn’t any question about it,” Robie said, adding, “We’re doing things a little different this year now that we know a little more.”

Robie and his crew have cleared the deck by the main stage to encourage dancing without blocking anyone’s view. They have added a sound system aimed at the beer garden. They have scheduled Friday’s performers for the main stage instead of the indoor pub to accommodate a bigger audience. There will even be a wedding on Saturday morning at the request of a Vermont couple who came to last year’s festival.

“People want to get up and dance” Robie said. “Some of the music isn’t really traditional bluegrass. But it’s all amazing. I’m calling it dance-grass.”

Working with booking agent Nick Bloom, Saddleback is bringing an array of acoustic string artists, most notably Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder, that rival top festivals across the country.

“Nick Bloom is really good at choosing amazing talent, and we’re really lucky to get these musicians,” Robie said .

Friday’s line-up starts with 317 Mainstreet taking the stage at 3 p.m. and culminating with The Bluegrass Connection at 7 p.m. with other acts continuously in between. Saturday’s slate starts at 11 a.m. with child phenom Mason Strunk followed by Della Mae, The Farewell Drifters, Darol Anger’s Republic of Strings, Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper, Crooked Still, and finally Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder.

Anger, who played at Saddleback last year, got his musical career start with Grisman in the mid 1970s. He can be heard every Saturday morning when NPR’s “Car Talk” theme music comes on. That’s Anger playing fiddle along with Grisman on mandolin, Earl Scruggs on banjo and Tony Rice on guitar.

Anger loves bluegrass festivals. “It’s a different kind of crowd,” he said in a recent phone interview while at a Colorado festival. “People are very polite. It feels like a community. And many of the fans play a little bit themselves. There’s a kind of shared knowledge, and people know what’s going on. It’s a nice communication between the performers and audience.”

As a performer, Anger said festivals give him a chance to see and play music with his friends.

“Basically we travel across the country and around the world, and we meet at these festivals,” said Anger. “It’s a nice way to be together.”

Two musicians who started out with Anger’s Republic of Strings have gone on to join Crooked Still, a quintet from Boston stretching the limits and definition of bluegrass. Featured on National Public Radio, the band’s latest CD, “Some Strange Country,” brings a New Age sound with Aoife O’Donovan’s airy Cowboy Junkies-like vocals and Tristan Clarridge’s cello. Fiddler Brittany and banjo player Gregory Liszt even transform The Rolling Stones’ “You Got the Silver” into something organic and earthy.

“It’s all about the instruments. They can be used to play any kind of music, so you get this big spread of music styles,” Anger said. “It’s nice to see people who don’t even know bluegrass but who just like music getting into this band and dancing to it. And they’re just cute.”

Even after the festival ends, Saddleback Mountain has booked local bluegrass quartet Phatt Grass to play a jam session with all of the festival artists invited to join. Robie said that this music is mostly for folks who have to work during the weekend and can’t make it to the main stage performances.

Overnight camping is free Saturday for anyone arriving after 8 p.m.

“Then we’ll just play ‘til the cows come home,” Robie said.

Go and do

WHAT: Saddleback Mountain Bluegrass Festival

WHEN: Friday and Saturday, Aug. 12-13

WHERE: Sadddleback Mountain, Rangeley

TICKETS: $45 at the gate, free for kids 12 and under

NOTE: Free parking. Camping begins at 9 a.m. Friday on first-come, first-served basis.